A 'finding hot niches' p.s.

I'm not really writing about 'finding hot niches' today but since Jackie brought it up I want to add one place not included on her list. There is a good possibility many will disagree with me but I want to suggest you look for 'hot niche' ideas by paying attention to television ads.

Yes! You heard me correctly. ;-) And no... I'm not suggesting you should compete with the 'big guys' who can afford TV advertising rates. But think about it...

They've spent tons of money doing the research to find out what people are looking for (or, at the very least they've spent tons of money deciding to convince us we're looking for certain solutions. Heck...until pharmaceutical companies decided to advertise directly to the consumer I just never knew there were quite so many things that could go haywire!)

So, pay attention to what are presumably people's concerns and then zero in on a little subset of that group of people with a product or service that might serve them around the issue.

Okay... got that out of my system. ;-)

I was reading an ebook about building Squidoo lenses and it was talking about getting your lens indexed in search engines. According to this 'expert' it is better to leave links off of your squidoo lens for the first 3 or so days and simply focus on content that uses your keywords. That way, you'll get the best indexing.

Now...I have no idea if this is true or not but I decided that I'd give it a day or two before I included any direct links. Today I did add more content AND one link to my Cards Build Business lens. I will confess to have some doubts about the veracity of this information because I believe it was the same source that suggested simply writing your intro and adding a couple of 'Text modules' to start your lens out.

The thing is... it may simply be outdated information because Squidoo now requires a minimum of 4 modules before even they will add your lens to their files. That was set up in order to discourage those people who were simply using up space over at Squidoo by slapping up a quick, minimal lens simply to ride on the coattails of the highly ranking squidoo pages. That kind of stuff just hurts everybody so I'm very pleased Squidoo responded by setting up some parameter that might help lenses be a synonym for 'quality content'!

What I ended up doing when I started the lens on January 1 was writing the Intro, the two text modules AND I simply added a Guestbook. If you drop by a lens that offers a guest book please take a moment to leave a message... giving feedback is always a valuable exchange and if you happen to be logged in to Squidoo at the time it provides you with a link back to your name and your lenses so it's really a win-win to sign guestbooks!

Yesterday I went in to edit the lens by adding a fun little widget called "Did you Know?" It allows you to rotate through a series of random facts and I really like things that are interactive plus it was a nice fit for my subject matter.

I also added a poll and a couple of new tags. I have learned that the search engines, Google and Yahoo for instance, seem to like a site that is frequently updated. To add something new a few times a week is actually frequent enough... and this can be as small and simple as adding a new tag or two. But when I'm still in the active building phase of a lens I'll usually add at least one section daily.

Today I added another text module which resulted in me having some new tags to add to the lens also. Feel free to hop over there and check out my progress... and hey, while you're there you could leave a note in my guestbook and/or give me a star rating... I haven't yet promoted this lense but I intend to do some of that... tomorrow!

C'ya then...

--Mary K

¸..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* Light

EXPECT MIRACLES!

Building Lenses ~ Building Business

Jackie Lee is so right!!! I LOVE the lens creation process. The only *wish* I have when it comes to Squidoo.com is that we could choose different templates so we could rid ourselves of that 'squid-orange' if we wanted to. (can you tell I want too?!? :-)) I have to admit it was brilliant branding... I rarely see orange anymore without thinking of squidoo! ;-)

Now don't get me wrong... I certainly appreciate that it was brilliantly set up to shake-hands well with the search engines and I'm keenly aware of the value of placing good 'keywords' in your title and URL. But for me that's just the icing on the cake compared to the satisfaction of building an attractive lens that's interesting, interactive and filled with valuable content in such a way that others can easily digest it!

When it comes to monetizing with Squidoo... there are a few schools of thought and, like humans who are thinking these thoughts, they vary greatly! Seth Godin, the creator of Squidoo and a Marketing genius himself, urges people to explore their passions with a lens... to dive in and dig deep sharing everything you know about a subject that captivates you. Sounds a bit like, "If you build it they will come." For me... THAT'S attractive!

Others will suggest you find something people are clamoring about and provide information and resources (for free and for sale). There's certainly nothing wrong with that... it makes sense.

I say the best thing would be elements of BOTH! Keep your ear to the ground about things people are clamoring for and select those things where YOU are one of the clamoring people! ;-)

So let's do a brief walk-through of the basics of starting a lens...

When you first click 'start a lens' from virtually any page over at Squidoo you will be shown the following:

Step 1: So, what's your lens about?

People are making lenses on everything from "How to Roast Your Own Coffee Beans" to "Why You Should Hire Me" to "Top 10 Books That Changed My Life." And LOTS more. What's your topic?

Here there will be a little box for you to fill in your topic. Thing of a word or a brief sentence that someone may use over at Google if they were looking for information about your topic...

After you finish you go to:

Step 2: What do you want to do with your lens?

A few real examples: There's Damon, a teacher who makes learning lenses with his students. And Jane Goodall, supporting her nonprofit organization. And Kimberly, an author promoting her books. And Raj, who wants traffic back to his blog. These are just 4 ways people use Squidoo. How will you?

I want to get the word out about xyz (easiest option)

I'm gonna sell xyz stuff and earn $$, for me or for charity (money maker!)

I want to make a list of my favorite things about xyz (most popular)

I just want to do my own thing.

I ALWAYS select "I just want to do my own thing" though any of these choices are fine. Some will simply come preloaded with specific modules that you may find yourself deleting. By selecting the fourth option you have to go in and select your own module but that gives you an opportunity to only work with the modules that serve your purpose.

Now we find ourselves going to Step 3:

Close

Step 3: Title and URL

Tip #1: Clever lens titles can make great first impressions. Have fun!
Tip #2: When picking your Squidoo URL, just fill in the blank where it says www.squidoo.com/_______. (So, if your lens is about daschunds, try adding the word dashchund to the box. If your lens is about making paper airplanes, add paperairplanes to the box. Sorry, no spaces or weird characters).

Lens Title:

Pick your URL, the link where your lens will live.
(This can't be changed, so choose wisely).
www.squidoo.com/

And pick a category for your lens:
Choose a topic Animals & Nature Arts & Literature Cars & Trucks Business Computers, Gadgets & Tech DIY & Hobbies How-To & Education Entertainment Food & Cooking Health & Medicine Parenting & Kids Local Movies & TV Music News & Politics People Nonprofits & Volunteering SEO & Affiliate Marketing Shopping Sports & Recreation Travel Video Games XXX: Adult Content

Please rate your lens:

If you're not sure, read up on our Ratings policy.

My lens contains: G RATED MATERIAL: Safe for all ages and eyeballs R RATED MATERIAL: Think Victoria's Secret ads, strong language, or cable TV X RATED MATERIAL: Nudity, sex tips, etc. (If it feels X-rated, it probably is!)

Here you want to give some thought to both your TITLE and your choice for the URL. They do not have to be identical and it would be very wise to use your main keyword in both. In other words, use words people are likely to search on when they want more information about your subject!

Today, for instance, I started a new lens that will be focusing on effective ways to use greeting cards in building your business. I don't really know if or how many people might be actually searching for ways to build their business specifically with greeting cards but I DO know that people ARE searching for ways to BUILD THEIR BUSINESS and because I happen to have a greeting card business I also know that people search on the words 'greeting cards' so...

I wanted to be sure to incorporate the long-tail keywords (they are 'long-tail' because they are more than a single word...and/or they refine a single word... for instance, 'cards' could be business cards or baseball cards or any kind of card but I'm looking to attract people searching for Greeting Cards) 'business building' and 'greeting cards' in both my title and my URL. I prefer a URL that's short and memorable but I'm willing to take liberties with my title so I used

Powerful Business Building with Greeting Cards

as my TITLE. The URL that is embedded above reads, www.squidoo.com/cards-build-business

So before you find yourself on Step 3 give some thought to your title and URL and remember, it may already be chosen so you may want to have a slightly different alternate handy.

Another choice you'll notice required with this step is selecting the 'Category' where you'd like your lens to appear. Many subjects can make sense in more than one category. Just go with the one that makes most sense to you. Follow your intuition and select the category you would be most likely to go to if searching on your topic.

This leads you to the fourth and final step:

Step 4: Help people find your lens

Keywords (or "tags") are really important in helping people find your lens. Think about the search words someone might put into Google when he's looking for info on your topic. Those would be your lens tags.

The best keyword for my lens is:

And 3 more good ones are:
(Optional)

You're going to be choosing keywords. Don't sweat over this as you will be able to add more keywords later. You'll notice that the system has already assumed you selected the best keyword for your title (and of course you did already know that because Jackie and I have both told you so! LOL) so it preloaded that one for you. Just select three more that make sense, type in that goofy word you see in the box which proves you are, indeed, a real live, if goofy, person, and then click DONE! You'll be ready to start building your lens!!!

Whew! And we'll save more on that for another day!
Happy squidoooooing!!!! ;-)

--Mary K

¸..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ -:¦:-
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* Light

EXPECT MIRACLES!